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December 16, 2010

YANUKOVYCH: EU INTEGRATION REMAINS MAIN TASK FOR UKRAINIAN DIPLOMATS

Yanukovych: Eu Integration Remains Main Task For Ukrainian Diplomats

Kyiv, December 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – EU integration remains the main task for Ukrainian diplomats, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said.
"European integration remains the first and main task of the Ukrainian diplomacy," he said at a meeting with Ukrainian diplomats in Kyiv on Tuesday.
Yanukovych said that diplomats should focus their efforts on signing an association agreement in the near future. However, he noted that the signing of this document would be historically important for Ukraine and create "a platform for further European integration." The president recalled that an inseparable part of the agreement was the creation of a free trade area and the introduction of a visa-free regime with EU countries.

Yanukovych also said that Ukraine's membership of the European Union could be a guarantee of Ukraine's security.
He said that in its foreign policy Ukraine should consider its cooperation with all EU member states as strategic, because the question of Ukraine's accession to the EU depends on each country. Yanukovych also noted that the set of Ukraine's foreign policy priorities had remained unchanged, but the approaches to these priorities and their dynamics had changed significantly.
"We see the European Union as an optimal model of social economic development, [a model for our] public institutions, and as our common home in the near future," Yanukovych said.